Busch turned the fastest lap of the night in a Sprint Cup car as he posted a track-record lap of 181.918 mph around the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval.

Busch, the 2004 Cup champion, will start on the pole next to five-time Cup champion and defending race-winner Jimmie Johnson (180.974) when the Bojangles Southern 500 goes green Saturday night.

“Running around at 218 is definitely faster than running around at 181 average, but when you do it with a stock car with no downforce and all the weight that it carries, it’s really tough,” said Busch, who broke Kasey Kahne’s record of 181.254 set in 2011.

Driving for a Furniture Row Racing team that won its only race ever at Darlington (with Regan Smith in May 2011), Busch said his team arrived with confidence and unloaded fast.

“Wow, what an incredible lap,” Busch said. “The way the team gave me the confidence right when we first unloaded, they deserve all the credit.”

It was Busch’s first pole in nearly two years and his first pole at Darlington since his rookie year—his first-ever Cup pole in September 2001 at Darlington.

The uplifting day came five days after he flipped several times in a frustrating afternoon at Talladega.

“Last week we ended on our lid and this week we’re here with the track record,” Busch said. “It’s that whole cliché—you can be a hero one week, a zero the next.”

A day earlier, Busch completed his IndyCar rookie orientation driving for Andretti Autosport. He won’t run in the Indianapolis 500 but could run an IndyCar race later this year.

Busch admitted that it took a few laps to get back in stock-car mode.

“I had to just zone right back into what I’ve done my whole career, and that is driving stock cars,” Busch said. “You have to show respect to this track because it will jump up and bite you.”

Denny Hamlin, planning to run his first full race since an injury suffered March 24 at California, will start sixth. Matt Kenseth will start seventh, followed by Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start 16th; Danica Patrick, in a backup car because of an earlier wreck, will start 40th.

They will have 501 miles to improve their position in a race that 10 years ago was decided by 0.002 seconds with Ricky Craven edging Kurt Busch.

“This gives me a great shot to stay ahead of the field and win by two-thousandths of a second this time,” Kurt Busch said.

All 43 cars entered made the field for Saturday night (Fox, 6:45 p.m. ET).